We participate in this as a challenge together we stay honest as usual about becoming savers into a habit.

If you don't have the cash to put away then figure something out. This is not going to be a comfortable situation for both of us.

You and I will have cash after this is over.

We start with $1.00 if we have cash now we add extra to supplement for the future for when we dont have all of it to put in an amount. This way we are not overwhelmed.

This is a marathon not a sprint.

If you absolutely cannot start at what's in the picture than do half and start at .50 cents.

Work an extra shift if you have to, photograph a wedding or whatever.

But we have to reach the goal and not allow life to keeps from reaching our goal.
Let's not bog oursleves down with a future payment such as you stated above.

Don't forget it is not easy for me either; and your my partner in this.

Ok... so this is for us to build up our cash reserves... not to spend the $$$ on debt reduction. Gotcha



Being able to suppliment for the future will make things easier.



I ain't quite that broke



I'd rather have a root canal with no numbing agent.... especially when it comes to photographing a wedding. I don't want any part of that. Weddings are the one thing I refuse to do as a photographer.



Ok... I'm in. You got yourself a partner. I get paid on Monday 7th.... so that's when I'll start contributing to the 52 week plan. I'll also add a new set of columns to my debt reduction plan for this to help keep me on track for the ultimate goal of $1,378.00 since we can add extra if we have it.

This is a great idea.

I was thinking that even without interest included, you will have a lot of money at the end of the year. I might have to share this challenge.
And..I thought about you guys at lunchtime because I brought my lunch (my new year's resolution that I plan on sticking to), and lo and behold, there was $1 on the ground right next to the microwave. No one had walked by me, and it certainly wasn't mine, until I picked it up.

I'm in!

2013 Goals
Reduce my debt load by $8500 … (8222.53 left to go)
Increase my eFund to $1000 … (703.00 left to go)
Increase my retirement value by $2500 … (2425 left to go)
52 Week Challenge ... 3 / 1378

Monthly Goals & Achievements

Goals for January…
175/200 ... extra put toward Debt Reduction
297/400 ... increase eFund

Achievements for January…
Sams Card --- $0.97 above what's needed for DRP, monthly progress... (211.51), still owe... 1820.26
Discover Card --- $2.16 above what's needed for DRP, monthly progress 48.16, still owe... 5672.37
Lowes Card --- $18.93 above what's needed for DRP, monthly progress (1102.64), still owe... 5252.53
Chase Card --- $4.76 above what's needed for DRP, monthly progress 30.95, still owe... 7688.09
AmEx Card --- $4.47 above what's needed for DRP, monthly progress 56.47, still owe... 5597.96
CU Loan --- sent in extra $225 from debt reduction fund, $106.23 above what's needed for debt reduction plan, monthly progress 599.23, still owe... 7414.63

Current overall debt reduction for January:
(754.34) ... all debts in

Notes

As I mentioned in the last update, the numbers are now in and I can see how much damage I did with my little shopping spree trying to bring myself some joy and get out of my depressive mood. It is what it is.

I have accepted the challenge from fantasma and I have added a new 2013 goal above. This way I can keep track of my progress with each payroll update I do.

While my overall debt didn't go down in this months numbers I'm not really torn up about it. I can't dwell on the negative. I have to look at the positive. Yes, I am going to have to work a little harder at getting both the Sam's and Lowes Cards back in their original debt reduction plan numbers, but each month that I can report $xx.xx above what's needed for debt reduction plan I am doing just that.

Right now the positive is each and every debt I am going above what is needed for my debt reduction plan. So far this month I have been able to send in an extra $225 towards my CU Loan. I added another $75 towards my retirement goals, and another $125 towards my eFund. I also started with the first $3 towards fantasma's challenge. I am $25 away from reaching my debt reduction goals for Jan, and $103 away from reaching my eFund goals for Jan.

I am looking forward to the next paycheck to see if I will be able to meet or even beat those goals.

I like the 52 week challenge. Mind if I join you?

That's fantasma's baby... I have no say in this. I'm not even sure how I'm gonna pull it off. I was already stretched pretty thin.

N2Deep, how's your dog and her leg doing? Congrats on being able to handle that unexpected vet visit with your e-fund.

She's getting better but she still refused to put any weight on it. At least she isn't holding it as high now. She's still on her meds so I'm not going to get overly concerned until I run out and she still isn't using it. Then it's back to the vet.

It's not much... but today I am $10 closer to having my savings/projects fund at my first stepping stone. 478/500 Granted this fund will always be fluctuating because I have so many projects currently going... but it is nice to have that cash sitting there.

I've also started a new budget fund for online purchases. Hopefully this will help me stay within budget.

Since the last official update I was able to toss another hundred towards my eFund 397/1000

And according to my debt reduction plan I am 37.63 away from being able to pay off the CU loan one month early. It's not scheduled to be paid off till Jan '14 so a lot can change... but I am striving to get it gone early. I am so glad that I thought about setting up this particular worksheet in OO.

This idea really troubles me. What necessities would you purchase online while you're still in credit card debt? Work with me here. If you're carrying a balance, any additional purchases instantly start to accrue interest costs, thereby increasing the cost of whatever you're buying. Why would you actually plan for this?

If I were you, I'd budget for some fun stuff so you don't feel deprived, but buy locally and pay in cash. When you pay with cash and have to pull those bills out of your wallet, it forces you to really think about whether the fun is really worth the money or not. It's way too easy to click on the "submit" button online without really having to think about how it affects your finances later.

Let me know what you think.

There is a lot that I buy online that I can't get locally. I live in the middle of nowhere. I have to drive just to get to a crappy walmart. If I want real stores it's at least a 45min drive one way. And even then there are things I cant find.... so I buy them online.

Keep in mind these purchases are not made on a Credit Card... they are made with my Debit Card... thus there is no interest being acrued. This is why I wanted to set up the new budget fund... so I'd have money set aside for these purchases vs. messing up and having to pull the funds out of savings or the eFund to cover the purchases.

One such recent purchase that comes to mind is a can opener that was actually made in the USA. All walmart (aka chinamart) carries is crappy ones that are made in china. I wanted to support our country and our businesses to help them stay in business. I was able to do this by buying American Made online. There are also a number of supplies for my lifestyle that I cant get locally or even driving 45minutes... so I buy them online as well.

The fact that you're using a debit card does make me feel better, but I'm still confused about a few points. Most people who have a budget categorize stuff into specific costs: housing, car, utilities, groceries, etc. Nobody I know categorizes costs by source: local store, online store, etc. Wouldn't it make more sense to categorize the traditional way? That way, you'll know if you've overspent on something and can make adjustments elsewhere. Your way, you'll know you've overspent because you run out of money, but you still won't know why unless you do more work to figure out what you spent it on.

I can kind of understand this. For some reason our household has a rather large "miscellaneous" section. We have this year started pulling out clothes and house improvements from this pile, but there are a bunch of stuff that still falls into this group. Some things are gifts, but alot of it is general household stuff, everything from stamps to printer cartridges to new tupperware. Is this the kind of stuff N2deep is talking about? We haven't found it particularly useful to subdivide this group any further, but it is helpful to track all spending to see what falls in that misc group and see how much is regularly on those things.

I have the specific cost budgets. I set back 100 per paycheck for gas, my utilities are budgeted for the highest amount I have seen, housing improvements come out of my savings/projects fund, and groceries/misc has a 100 a paycheck budget. However there are some items that I can only find online. This is where the new budget category comes into play. Sometimes that Item may be an American made can opener, sometimes it may be spices for cooking, sometimes it may be ceramic filters to treat water, sometimes it may be fish related supplies (until I can get my fish tanks sold), sometimes it may be books or movies since I shut off the cable and blockbuster my mail years ago, or like the order I placed last night for computer parts.

Point is... these purchases are going to be made online and while they fall into multiple categories it is much easier to just set up one budget fund to cover them all. Especially since all the local stores are getting paid in cash. This keeps me from having to keeping going back to the bank to deposit money that I already took out.

I tried to just budget for expenses on paper and leave all my money in the bank. I failed horribly at that. I was constantly overdrawing the budgets when I went to walmart. That's why I now pull out XXX per paycheck for expenses. If I have to whip out the debt card... then I have to think if this is something I want to dip into the savings for.

While this way may not tell me exactly what I over spent on... it should keep me from overspending because now I have $xxx I can spend in online purchases and if what I want costs more I know I either have to save more in that fund or make a conscious decision of pulling money from somewhere else to cover the expense.

Case in point... last night I ordered a 1tb secondary hard drive for my laptop. Once it comes in I'll move all my photography and documents from my desktop over to the laptop. (I don't like having these files on the same hd as the operating system). Then I'll clean up my desktop computer and sell it. I had to make a conscious decision to pull money out of savings/projects to make this purchase because I didn't have my "online purchases" budget funded. This will also allow me to be able to show off my work more effectively to potential clients. I'll have my photography there with me when we are discussing what they are after in a photography session.